He Doesn't Know
by Waiting for my Soulmate
Summary: Yep, I'm back with another PercyOliver fic. Fluffy, you are warned. Nothing racy, but PG just in case


This is kinda for Faith Maguire, who went to the bother of adding me to her author alert list, hope this doesn't disappoint.

Percy sat at his desk, gamely reading through one of the thickest textbooks in the library. He was hurrying to finish as much as he could before Quidditch practice ended and his roommate arrived back. Percy, despite appearances, quite liked Oliver Wood, but he was notoriously messy and a bit inconsiderate when it came to his bookish roommate's need for quiet. Percy heard the familiar noise of the team returning and braced himself for Oliver's exuberance...it always amused Percy to pretend that he had been interrupted in the middle of something terribly important.

The door opened, but there was no burst of noise, no loud hail, just a trudging, then a flop on the bed. Percy knew Oliver well enough to realise that something was seriously wrong, something which didn't happen very often. If something had gone wrong during practice, Percy would have been subjected to a blow by blow account of the incident, if there was a problem with a professor, Percy would endure hours of complaints about them, if there was a problem with homework, Percy might expect to be begged for help...probably involving an assignment due in to following day. But never had he been greeted by silence from his roommate.

After waiting for a few moments, Percy turned around to look at Oliver, lying on his bed, still fully dressed in his Quidditch robes, broomstick in hand. It must have been bad to prevent Wood going through his nightly ritual of polishing his broom and placing it carefully in the broom shed.

"What's wrong Ol? Problem with practice?" he said in a falsely cheerful voice

Wood turned towards Percy, who saw a black eye forming on Wood's left side.

"My God, who did that? Have you been to see Madame Pomfrey?"

Oliver sighed deeply, "No, I haven't. It'll go away in a few days. Besides, I like my battle scars" he said, trying to inject some humour in to his voice. He was hoping that Percy hadn't noticed his reluctance to name his attacker. But there was no such luck

"And WHO did it Ol?" asked Percy, with a hint of impatience in his voice.

There was a barely heard mumble...then a few moments later Oliver confessed "Flint caught me after practice, said 'he wanted a word', then he appeared round the corner with several of his thicker mates..." Wood trailed off here...Percy would see for himself what had happened next.

"they gave me the usual....how dire the Gryffindor Quidditch team are, how a great idiot like me got the Captaincy...Flint's added a new insult...told all of his friends, and the entire Slytherin house, that I am gay. Lord knows how long it took him to figure that one out." Wood tried to shrug off the assault, but Percy, looking closely, saw Wood's mouth start to tremble.

Look, everyone that knows you knows that it's not true, it's just Flint trying to rattle you before the big match"

Then Wood stunned Percy with three simple words, "but it is."

Percy was stopped mid flow, shocked in to silence.

"It's true.... I'm in love with a guy...and now everyone's going to know about it...HE'LL know about it, for God's sake. I'll be kicked off the team; everything I've worked for will be gone." Oliver seemed to be moving away from 'upset' and was now on his way to 'angry and afraid'. Percy was not sure if he should leave his roommate alone or if he should stay and comfort him.

But Wood was continuing to rant, either to himself or to Percy, it didn't matter really

"My friends will shun me, my career will be over before it's even started, there's not a single team in Britain who'll take me on now...my life is over just because of that...bastard!"

Wood had been so wrapped up in his own self pitying, that he had not noticed Percy swelling with unexpressed anger...doing a remarkable impression of his mother. But now, something snapped, and Percy, usually so quiet, could be heard shouting down in to the common room, until Oliver regained the presence of mind to cast a silencing spell around the room.

"How can you be so stupid? This won't have any effect on your skills as a Quidditch player, or on your true friends. You think that it makes you abnormal or something? Does being gay mean that you start to fail classes for no reason? You know for a smart guy Ol, you can talk an awful lot of shit! I can't believe you're going to let this affect you so badly! Flint made a lucky guess and you've just thrown your life away over something that hasn't happened yet. Just because your gay doesn't mean I'm...you're any different. You're still the same Oliver Wood that's been offered a place at Puddlemere United, who's got a million friends all over Hogwarts. You...you..."

But here Percy found that he had run out of steam, so he just spluttered before finally shutting up altogether.

"So, when you said **you're** not any different...are you telling me that you're...?" Oliver put the question delicately; after all, he wasn't entirely sure he'd head Percy correctly.

Dammit, he heard thought Percy

"Yes. I came out to my parents last year, and no, I haven't told my brothers or Ginny" Percy answered Oliver's inevitable question in as flat a voice as he could manage, hoping to discourage any further inquiries, but Oliver was determined to find out everything he could before Percy clammed up again. For all Wood knew, this might be his only chance to discuss the issue with his roommate.

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Because I thought that you were straight. So straight as to not want to be in the same room as me...I couldn't risk our friendship over something that has no effect on my life at the moment. I didn't trust you to take it well...and I didn't trust myself either."

"Well, now that it's out in the open, so to speak, I feel a lot better having told you Perce. So...are you seeing anyone at the moment?"

"No! I haven't found time to date anyone, besides I need to concentrate on my schoolwork."

"Are you in love?" was Oliver's next question, his customary bluntness now returned and turned full force on to an unprepared Percy.

"No" Percy kept his reply short and to the point, but he didn't quite meet Wood's gaze as he answered. Wood was just wondering what to make of Percy's slight avoidance, when the tables were abruptly turned on him.

"What about you? Who's this guy you're in love with?" said Percy, suddenly remembering an earlier part of Wood's confession.

"You don't know him' said Wood, a little too quickly, 'he's in Ravenclaw, on their team."

Percy, trying to make his friend feel better, encouraged Wood to tell him about this boy...maybe talking about it would help him to sort out some feelings. Percy knew roughly what all this felt like, having gone through it the previous year. When he thought about all he'd been through Percy, as always, offered a silent thank you to his mother, who'd accepted his life choices unquestioningly, never doubting her love.

"He's very smart, always got his head in a book. He's a bit of a stickler for the rules too, which can get annoying at times. But what I love most about him are his eyes...they're so expressive, I can tell what kind of day he's had just by a single glance. And when something excites him, there's a fire behind his eyes and it makes them seem to glow from inside, it's infectious, it makes everyone want to care about the same things. I know there's no hope, and I guess I'll get over it in time, it's just hard, y'know?"

Percy knew, having nursed a crush on Oliver since their fourth year, only to have his hopes dashed time after time. Then in a final insult, Oliver came out, but was already in love with another man. Life was just too unfair.

Percy closed his eyes and leaned his head against his bed post, looking for support from somewhere, anywhere. He felt Oliver sit down on the bed beside him, and turned his head to ask if there was something else. Instead, he found his mouth stopped momentarily by Oliver's own, meeting in an unexpected kiss. Percy took a moment to savour the feeling he had wondered about for so long, then all thought fled as Oliver's tongue gently touched Percy's own, short circuiting his brain. The two boys remained locked together, arms gripping each other in place until air became a necessity, at which point Percy suddenly realised what he had been doing and leapt up from the bed.

"Oh, no...no, you are not going to do this to me. I've loved you for too long without ending up as your rebound. I might not be worth much, but I know that I'm not going to settle for a second place love. Don't use me to get over whatever his name is, it's not fair."

Oliver felt as though he had been slapped in the face, so unexpected was Percy's outburst. Then, as the words finally made it through to his pleasure addled brain, Wood finally realised he doesn't know it's him

He got up from his half reclining position on Percy's bed and stepped closer to the other boy, stopping his mouth with his hand this time. Wood looked straight in to Percy's eyes, hoping he would feel the truth, or see it.

"I...lied to you; there is no one from Ravenclaw. The one I was describing was **you**. I know you're modest, but how could you not know? In case you're still not clear on the point...it's you I love, ok? I'm going to kiss you now, and everything else can wait." Percy nodded weakly, a little overwhelmed, and Oliver leaned in and sealed his declaration with a kiss.

A/N not as long as some of my others, but it just seemed to finish itself, I couldn't add any more. Please r and r, if you have any comments.


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